(Untitled)

[little_moons]

There's a little girl with cornsilk hair and a pink pinafore dress screaming in the middle of the rec room. Flo and I sit staring with mouths agape. She doesn't do this often, not really, but last night was a bad night and today's not much better. Two days after their birthday and all celebration is fucking done, as far as she's concerned. She's

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[weary_head]

Dean walked into the kitchen, a small, soft bundle in his arms, found the corner and stayed there.

"Scream all you want," he told Terpsichore, eying Neil and his charges over her head. "I'll be damned before I sing you any Stone Roses. Well. More damned."

[little_moons]

"Isn't it like... a shot to your manhood or whatever that you even know whose song it is?" I point out, my smirk widening when Flo hurries over and tugs on the leg of his pants, stretching up on her toes to try and see what's in his arms.

[weary_head]

"No," said Dean instantly, but it looked like he was thinking it over. He turned his attention to the child at his feet to avoid those troubling implications.

"Hey, kiddo," he said, sliding with his back to the wall until Cori was low enough for Flo to see. "You wanna say hi to the baby?"

[little_moons]

Flo leans in closer, her eyes widening to comical saucers, then she takes a step back, her hands clasped and a shy smile on her face.

"She doesn't see kids so much littler than her, very often," I explain while Flo chatters and coos about the baby in his arms.

I can tell Mack's interested too, but she's staying in my lap so she can stubbornly continue her sulking.

[five_hours]

I hadn't realized how much time had passed until my stomach grumbled. I had been sketching a part of the Island I hadn't really spent much time at before. It didn't take me long to gather everything up and head back towards the Compound. I made some mental notes to myself as I walked so I could find the place I'd been sketching again easily.

When I stepped into the doorway of the kitchen I could see Neil, Mack and Flo were already there. "Hi." I grinned as I put down my bag and headed to the refrigerator looking for something quick.

[little_moons]

Flo and Mack both wave obediently, even though Mack's is a hell of a lot less cheerful.

"Hey, man. How's it goin'?"

[five_hours]

"It's going pretty well." I suppose I could spend my time in a lot of worse ways then sketching around the Island.

"How have things been for you?" I asked as I took a bite of the food I grabbed. Whatever it was tasted great so I guess I had been pretty hungry.

[little_moons]

"Good," I say with a shrug, struggling and failing pretty miserably to keep the goofy, mushy smile off my face. "Really good."

Embarrassingly fucking good, even though, in the back of my mind, I can't help wondering how long it can keep on like this.

[canaan_divided]

"Playdate," Mamet announces cheerfully, and lifts Calliope from his shoulders to the floor, setting her free.

Calliope looks from Mamet to Neil and the girls, and makes for a chair so she can eat, too. "I hungry," she complains.

[little_moons]

"Oh great, another one," I mutter dryly, but I'm helping Calliope up into her chosen chair anyway, ruffling a hand over her curls and laughing when she slaps me away.

"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry too. I think Mamet over there oughta wait on us, what do you think?"

[canaan_divided]

"You know you're thrilled to see us," Mamet says, and he's not even being sarcastic, either. Neil is a giant fucking marshmallow.

"Are you sure you want something I cook?"

[little_moons]

"What are you talkin' 'bout? You got Happy Homemaker written all over you," I say with a grin. I don't even bother to argue about that first part. I'm not that good a liar.

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie's never spent a lot of time around little kids, because it's always been just him and his mom, and that was pretty much true when he was little, too. Still, Charlie's one of those rare young men who likes children instinctively and he smiles when he walks into the kitchen and sees Neil there with both of them.

"Oh, hey!" he says, brightly, in a much better mood than he was the last time he saw Neil. "Who are these guys?"

[little_moons]

"Hey, kid," I say, handing Mack her sippy cup and plucking a little leaf out of her hair. "This is Mack and Flo Pinocchio."

Mack ignores him completely in favor of her food, but Flo's caught sight of him. A little wary of strangers today, she stands holding onto the leg of my chair, looking up at him with round eyes. "Girls, this is Charlie."

[teenagerenegade]

"Hey Mack," says Charlie, smiling. "Hey, Flo. Those are great names, you know? Much better than Charlie, anyway." Charlie tilts his head to one side and gives Flo a little wave that's barely more than a waggle of his fingers, just between her and him.

[little_moons]

"They got their mother to thank for that," I say with a smirk. "Anyway, Charlie's not so bad."

[m_pinocchio]

"Sometimes I think you handle 'em better than me," Mike says, mostly as an aside, moving past them and dropping his coffee cup into the sink. He turns and looks at them, his little girls, not so little anymore.

Flo grins abruptly up at him and lightly smacks Max's side, chirping, "Looka doggie!" Mack just glares.

[little_moons]

"Always thought I was a bad influence," I say with a smirk, but it's not all that far from the truth. There might always be a part of me that thinks I'll only do harm to them. How could I not?

Mack's glaring face gets redder and redder, and eventually her eyes start to well up. Big crocodile tears, all for show. Her daddy's here now, maybe she can get some sympathy outta him too.

[m_pinocchio]

"Christ," he says, rolling his eyes when Mack's lip begins to tremble. "You are such a baby." But he crosses to her and scoops her up into his arms, kissing the side of her head. "A couple minutes," he says. "Then you gotta eat your veggies."

He gives Neil a significant look. "This been going on a while?"

[little_moons]

"All afternoon," I drawl, stretching a kink out of my shoulders and then getting up to find myself something to drink. I'm still covered in paint and baby drool, hair disheveled and my eyes heavy and tired, but I hardly seem to notice.

"I think it's Daddy's turn to get his ear screamed off, what do ya think?" I say, resting my fingertips on the top of Flo's head when she comes over to peer into the fridge with me.